Problem is I have read a lot on forums about titanium not being as strong as the factory steel bolts, and advice given to use stainless steel.Like wise I have read that stainless steel is not as strong as the factory bolts.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Are titanium bolts on a stem safe?PS: I have emailed Bontrager for there answer.

Also the factory steel bolts were fitted using threadlock, is this required or will anti-seize be fine.

I've been using titanium bolts on stems for over twenty years. I've only had one failure and it took a crash hard enough to knock me out and split a helmet in two to do it. It was also a 4 bolt front plate and one bolt broke and the other three held. It was still rideable.

6AL4V Ti is stronger than MOST steel. There are SOME stainless (and others) that are stronger.

But that isn't the whole picture either. How the threads arer formed (cut or rolled) also influences the "strength" because tbolts often snap at a thread root, which is a stress concentration.

So, the devil is always in the details.Buy Pro-Bolt 6AL4V certified bolts with rolled threads and you will never have a problem .

Once you start asking the question, then you realize you can never really be sure about bolts unless they are certified. Most bolts work prtty good most of the time. It is the few that break that cause us to ask the question.

I used almost ti bolts in my bike and nothing failed or snapped for more than a year now. Just right amount of torque without indications and used some friction paste not on the bolts but on the parts clamping on each other. (6) M5x12mm ti bolts in my stem,M6x35mm on the headset lock, 13mm & 23.5mm brake recessed bolts, M5x12mm on the seatpost lock and replacement ti bolts for Thomson seatpost, all are 6AL4V ti bolts purchased in Ebay from Taiwan sellers.

Which indicated that Titanium is slightly weaker than high tensile steel but still very strong.I'm not sure what type of steel the factory bolts are as there no markings.There website says "Corrosion-resistant steel bolts" which is a lie.

So I think when I get home from work, I think ill replace them with the titanium bolts and washers.

I apologize, when I say engineer, im more an electronic engineer than mechanical. Just making the point I can use a torque wrench.

Please don't use cheap Ti bolts sourced from eBay with unknown quality and origin. There are loads of inferior and low quality Ti bolts floating around out there. These are suitable for clamping cables, holding bottle cages, and such. Get something of a known quality for all six stem bolts, all seatpost bolts and the seat clamp.

Grade 5, rolled threads.

The risk of snapping a high quality Ti bolt is slim, but the record shows that cheap Ti bolts in stem application are fairly prone to snapping, with severe injury to yourself at risk. In short, don't do it.

I went to Google and searched all over for something to back up the "tensile strength" issue. Looks like I was wrong to pass on such a general statement, as I found a variety of numbers, depending on the grades of steel and Ti.

I think @rick and @dmf have the best answers to the question.

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